Rivers United’s Salefu among next big midfielders

Nigeria has over the years been blessed with many top class midfielders. From the days of Christian Madu, Muda Lawal, Aloy Atuegbu down to the mercurial Austin Okocha and John Obi Mikel, the country has had its fill of match commanders. And so it is no surprise when another young lad, Oche Salefu, aspires to join the list of legendary midfielders.

Already, the Rivers United midfielders has started getting accolades from some of the bets legs to have graced Nigerian football.

On Wednesday, Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) legend, Victor Ezeji described Salefu as a ‘midfield general’ primed to join the greats of the game.

Salefu has clearly wormed his way into the hearts of fans of the Eunisell sponsored Rivers United since making his debut against El-Kanemi Warriors on match day one.

It is no surprise that club gaffer, Stanley Eguma has made him a consistent member of his match day team.

“Salefu is a consistent player, who never stops working hard. From what I have seen, he is the kind of player described as an everyday player since he takes his game to the next level with every performance.

“As a young lad, he has done well and will even do better as the season progresses,” said Ezeji, who remains the only player to captain defunct Sharks and Dolphins, which were later merged into Rivers United in 2016.

Asked to liken him to any former player of the club, Ezeji replied, “Salefu reminds me of my former teammate, Abubakar Musa, who later captained Nigeria’s Under 20 national team.”

Salefu scored his first goal for his new side on match day seven in the Rivers derby against Go Round.

Last season, he was voted Players’ Player of the Season at Remo Stars, to win the Naija League Magazine and was also nominated for the Best New Player category by the Influential League Bloggers Award (LBA).